Fridae

A picnic to be held at the Botanic Gardens on Singapore's National Day and organised as part of Singapore's pride festival has become the latest victim of the country's anti-gay system.

Despite her loss, Kanako Otsuji is upbeat that her candidacy will give rise to a new movement dedicated to gay rights advocacy in Japan. She speaks to Fridae's Tokyo correspondent Kimberly Hughes in an exclusive interview.

Fridae is pleased to publish an excerpt of Prof Douglas Sanders's paper which was to be presented in Singapore on Aug 7 and 8. The scheduled lecture - organised in association with Singapore's pride festival - has been banned by the authorities.

Following a widely publicised ban of a photographic exhibition depicting same-sex couples kissing, a scheduled lecture by a Canadian law professor on anti-gay laws has been banned by the authorities.

Dinah Gardner meets versatile Chinese actress Tian Yuan who played the sexy singer, Yip, in hit lesbian movie Butterfly fame.

The first openly gay candidate in Japanese national politics fails to win a seat in upper house elections. News provided by GayJapanNews.

Italian gay rights groups hold public "kiss-ins" to protest the arrest and brief detention of two men for "kissing" or "lewd conduct" as charged by the police.

Hong Kong's gay community gets its first ever social services centre. The government funded centre located at Nathan Road will provide counselling, training workshops and a hotline sevice.

Although Kissing, a photo exhibition, has been banned by the Media Development Authority at the eleventh hour, Indignation - Singapore's GLBT pride season - will go ahead with its other events from Aug 1 - 15.

Neil Tennant, the openly gay vocalist half of the British synthpop duo, talks to Fridae about pop music, politics, and why they wrote songs to warn of the dangers of policies propagating fear and hatred. A Fridae Exclusive!